Hokey PokeyA grand hotel, a famous opera star and a psychoanalyst with a hidden agenda. Kate Mascarenhas's third novel offers her readers a glamorous, thrilling ride through murder, madness and the darkest recesses of the mind. February, 1929. The Regent Hotel in Birmingham is a place of deception and glamour. Behind its six storeyed fa? ade, guests sip absinthe cocktails on velvet banquettes, while the hotel's red jacketed staff scurry through its lavish

who seems to have life sorted - he's kind

Billy arrives to find a wild

The tale is fast paced and violence lurks on every page' Historical Novel Society

a young officer goes about his duty in the ranks of Wellington's army

insightful and amusing by turns

bandit kings and hidden mountain kingdoms

Now the war is over the ruthless Captain of the U-boat

a broken Christmas ornament

former FBI agent Terry McCaleb is enjoying quiet retirement

The murderous activities of the sinister 'Rottweiler' will exert a profound influence on the lives of this heterogeneous little community

A propulsive and ambitious novel as electrifying as The Wire

each an argumentative and unreliable expert in his or her own dodgy field